#1-ichi

1-Ichi (2003) (DVD Review)

1-Ichi (2003) (DVD Review) Directed By: Masato Tanno Starring: Nao Ômori, Teah, Chihara Junia Rated: UR/Region: 1/1:33/Number of discs: 1 Available from UNEARTHED FILMS

Based on the original manga, Ichi-1 is the prequel to Takashi Miike’s Ichi the Killer. Nao Omori stars as Shiro Ishi (the future Ichi) and Teah is Dai, the best fighter at the local high school. Whenever Dai gets into a fight,…

Given Description:  Bullied by his classmates, an introverted high schooler releases his pent-up rage when a badass transfer student starts pummeling everyone on campus.

Genre(s):  Action & Adventure | Cult Movies | Dramas | Foreign Movies | Asian Action Movies | Action Thrillers | Foreign/Crime Action & Adventure | Crime/Foreign Dramas | Japanese Movies

My Rating: 

Synopsis (Without Spoilers):  I don't even know where to begin with this one.  It was very hard for me to follow what was going on for about ninety-percent of the film.  Of course, it didn't help that it appeared to be quite loosely translated to the point where I ended up having to guess the endings of many sentences.

Y . . . Yeah!  A ss nest!  I hate those!

It also didn't help that the plot was all over the place, but I guess I can't be too hard on it, since it was clearly doing acid the entire time.  There are random occurrences of line/action repetition, people disappearing in ways where you can't be sure if they were just figments of a main character's imagination, and a whole lot of ass-kicking.  

One of the main characters, Dai, is a self-appointed kicker of all things ass-shaped.  He wants to be "number one" because he believes it will help him "figure things out" (don't hold your breath, it's pretty much never mentioned again).  However, he has some sort of angry fascination with a wimpy kid named Shiroishi because he mistakes the guy's smiling, violence-boners for mockery (seriously).  Meanwhile, Shiroishi doesn't appear strong enough to even intimidate his own boner, as he is shown to be so weak that even his karate class of children pick on him.  All of this changes though when a new kid begins to beat up on the tough students in the school, which allows Shiroishi to unleash his inner beast!

I liked this scene because it was the only one that made sense.

Honestly, that's as best as I can explain this.

Synopsis Continued (With Spoilers):  For reasons that cannot be explained (because it's never explained), Shiroishi ends up displaying amazing feats of strength, agility, and kicking power.  This first happens when he completely loses it after a brutal beating by a gang from a rival school.  He ends up nearly killing all nine of the guys single-handedly, which in turn gains the respect of the aforementioned new kid . . . who . . . wants to fight him?  For a challenge, I guess?

Fast-forward to where the new kid completely owns Dai and his friends, then goes seeking for Shiroishi (whom he dubs "Ichi" because he was wearing a jersey with a one when he wasted the nine kids from the rival school) to have a gentlemen's duel.  All the while, Dai limps after him, still wanting to fight, even after the new kid has broken his arm.

Once the new kid catches up to Shiroishi, he gets disappointed when "Ichi" doesn't want to fight.  That's fine.  While he waits, he'll just nonchalantly try to kill Dai on school grounds by breaking his arms and legs and neck.  This sparks "Ichi's" rage-boner and he goes into beast mode.  The fight (and movie) eventually ends with "Ichi" putting his heel through the kid's skull, cumming, then being begged by Dai to "attack [him]."

Same.

The Good:  

• I mean, if you're into movies where you don't really need to worry about plot, but love yourself some ass-kicking, you may enjoy that aspect of this movie.  

• It's so terrible it may actually be good.  It's pretty hilarious how completely nonsensical this film is.

The Bad:

• You're left with a lot of loose ends.  There are characters introduced that are never fully fleshed out, even though they appear somewhat important, and there are many instances where you believe something is about to be explained, but it never happens.

• Not entirely sure where the plot was trying to go.